Manner of constructing rotary steam-engines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HEMON SMITH, OF SUNBURY, OHIO.

MANNER OF GONSTRUCTING ROTARY STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 2,128, dated June 11, 1841.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HEMON SMITH, of Sunbury, in the county of Delawareand State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Rotary Steam-Engine,which is described as follows, reference being had to the annexeddrawings of the-same, making part of this specification.

Figure l is a plan of the machine. F ig. 2 is a top view of the steamwheel and valve or piston. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the slidingpiston showing the shoulders and the depression in the center.

Similar letters refer to corresponding parts.

The hollow rimmed revolving steam wheel A and the stationary cap Bplaced over the wheel A being made like those in other rotary steamengines and well understood by engine makers need not therefore beparticularly described. No claim is made either to these-to the frameE-or to the regulating screws.

The improvement is principally in the horizontally sliding double pistonK and the manner of working it. The said double sliding piston is madein the following manner. It consists of a plate of metal K in its lengtha little more than the inner diameter of the wheel, having an oblongslot T in its center running lengthwise to allow it to slide backwardand forward over t-he per` pendicular shaft D of the wheel. Its outerextremities are made to pass through oblong apertures in the rim of thesteam wheel leading from the inner circumference to the circular trough,channel, or groove in the wheel under the cap, called the steam chamber,for the purpose of closing and opening said chamber when required; saidoblong openings being made in the inner circumference of the wheel onthe line of the diameter-the one opposite to the other and packed at thesides to render the joints steam tight. Shoulders K:L K2 must be formedon the double valve to come in contact with a cam H on the Xed cap B forthe purpose of causing it to slide and perform its oflice.

The cam H before mentioned is a semicircular concentric segment withinclined plane ends and fixed in a horizontal position to the cap. Theinclined plane ends are marked H1 H2, and are designed for the purposeof allowing the shoulder of the double piston at one end to pass over iteasily in order to withdraw this end of the piston from the steamchamber' leaving it open and simultaneously to cause the opposite end ofthe piston to enter and close the chamber and receive the action of thesteam. The mode ofhaving the space between the two inclined ends o-rplanes solid in the manner of a concentric segment of a circle preventsthe shoulder of the piston being thrown back into said space and theconsequent derangement of the piston &c., and escape of the steam.

At one end of the cap there is a fixed head which fillsrthe steamchamber so as to act as a stop or head F for the steam to press againstin acting on the piston. The steam induction tube T passes through thispermanent head.

The engine is packed in the usual manner.

The operation is as follows: The steam is admitted through the tubeTw-acts against the end K1 of the double piston between it and the stopF and drives the wheel and piston around until the shoulder K1 passes upand over the cam I-IZ, when the piston is instantly withdrawn from thechamber and simultaneous with said movement the other end K2 of thepiston is forced into the chamber beyond the head or stop to receive acharge of steam in like manner.

That I claim as my invention and which I desire to secure by LettersPatent is- The peculiar form and construction of the double piston Kmoving over the shaft D in combination with the semicircular cam Houtside the steam chamber as described for changing the position of thepistons as the wheel revolves.

HEMON SMITH. Witnesses WM. I). ELLIOT, E. MAKER.

